It had already been a long week when I noticed this slice o’bizarre a-waitin’ for my ears in my inbox. *(By long week I mean the death of a close family pet — and related fallout; the rather non-dramatic death of my laptop — it coulda twitched, smoked, something interesting, but alas, twas not to be — ; money issues . . . I could go on, but I am quite sure you get the idea).

Most of you reading this column are, I’m sure, at least moderately familiar with the name TWIZTID. They are (or were?) at one time major players in the quite underground “HORRORCORE” sub-genre. What is “HORRORCORE” ? Essentially a much darker, more visceral, horror based rap/rock, started in the mid-90’s by RZA and other members of WU-TANG CLAN, under the alternate name/psydonymn GRAVE DIGGAZ*(who’s first album “SixFeet Deep” I happen to love), and carried on by acts such as NECRO, TECH N9ne, KOTTONMOUTH KINGS, DR. OCTAGON and DR.DOOM, among others, including TWIZTID.

Formed in 1993 as HOUSE OF KRAZEES, they released five albums under that name, then changed their name to TWIZTID in 1997. “The Darkness” is their 10th release under the moniker of TWIZTID, and, quite honestly, is not all that bad. Most assuredly not my standard genre, I do happen to have an appreciation for some of the “HORRORCORE” stuff. After all, I AM a lifelong horror fan, and to be genuinely fair, outside of CANCERSLUG, some aspects of “HORRORCORE” can be some of the darkest, sickest music/lyrics, and often hidden dark-closet skeleton honesties within those lyrics, you’re likely to come across.

Unfortunately, “THEDARKNESS” is not one of those albums that revels in the sicker side of the genre. However, this is not a complaint. This is a bit different; sanity is always in question as a literal hell of the psyche comes alive. The production is fantastic, the topics grim, horrific, and personal. These are songs that do not glorify the violence of which they speak, but rather spend a lot of time begging for forgiveness (not from god — from LIFE itself). These are NOT songs about parties and Crystal Champagne and money and “bitches.” These songs are about fragile minds in shitty circumstances caught between worlds, feeling like the violent incorporeal things that plague them incessantly, and acting just the same. Addiction, repentance for killing sprees, and being turned into that beast by the shit-hell reality of a world around you, never escaping no matter how hard you try, is the particular trip through hell this album takes. Just how and where solace is eventually found is certainly twisted indeed, but you’ll have to pick this up to find out.

JAMIE MADDROX had this to say about the release: “I just listened to the entire The Darkness record and all I can say is that I’m thankful that after all these years we still kick much ass at what we do and we haven’t lost the magic and intensity in us or our music that we initially started with almost 17 years ago!”

Recommended for fans of the genre, fans of the band, and open-minded horror/dark-based music aficionados in general. It’s an ugly, sonically interesting trip down a gore-strewn and winding road inside that of a splitting mind.

Writer of the weird and macabre; columnist for The Intestinal Fortitude; film and music critic and historian/buff; musician; visual artist; photographer; bibliophile/book collector; student of the bizarre, the occult, cryptozoology (and related topics); liver of life and the necessity of experience; loather of ignorance; seeker of knowledge; believer that we need to work together to achieve our common goals.